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Wyatt clamped his mouth shut, drawing it into a hard line, and to my relief, he followed Dad without another word.
Chapter 24
She’s Everything - Brad Paisley
Wyatt
Iwoke early the next morning, my eyes opening to the sight of Kinsley sleeping beside me.
A pang hit my chest. Last night, after turning in, Kinsley had gone to the bathroom to wash up. I had pretended to be asleep when she returned, just lying there. The waves of disappointment had poured off her as she climbed into bed beside me. It wasn’t that I didn’t want her; I always wanted her. But something inside me was holding back, despite letting her believe we were trying again.
With a gentle touch, I kissed her forehead then quietly slipped out of bed. Pulling on my jeans and t-shirt, I tiptoed out of the room, making my way down the stairs and out the front door. The morning breeze greeted me as I headed over to the barn to start chores. If I was going to stay here, I was determined to be useful.
“Morning, Drifter,” I greeted my horse in his stall, throwing him some hay before fetching his grain.
“Morning,” Ben, the farmhand, called out as he walked down the aisle, an insulated mug of coffee in his hand. “You’re out early.”
I nodded. “Here to help.”
“Great.” Ben grabbed a cart of hay. “Get some coffee from the tack room.”
Once I had a few gulps of coffee, I started scooping pelleted feed into the horses’ buckets.
“You want your horse turned out with the others today?” Ben asked.
“Yeah, let’s try it.”
“We don’t have any real aggressive ones, except Gambler, but we’ll keep him separate.”
I nodded in agreement as we set about haltering the horses and leading them to the pasture behind the barn.
When I released Drifter, his head shot up, eyes wide as he surveyed his surroundings. He stood still, sniffing the air.
Smirking at him, I said, “It’s called freedom, boy. Enjoy.”
Heeding my advice, Drifter took off running, giving a few spirited kicks and squeals. I laughed, watching him embrace his newfound liberty. He galloped up to the nearest group of horses, and they greeted one another by blowing into each other’s noses before taking off running together.
Watching them, I felt a deep satisfaction. This was all I wanted for him: room to move, a herd to be a part of, and fresh grass to eat. I leaned back against the fence, a contented smile playing on my lips.
“Well, that is a nice sight,” Kinsley’s voice came from behind me. She approached, crossed her arms over the top rail of the fence, and rested her chin on them.
“He’s living the dream.” My gaze was still fixed on the horses.
We fell into a comfortable silence, simply watching them.
After a moment, Kinsley broke the quiet. “You snuck out on me this morning.”
“I know. I’m sorry,” I admitted, turning to face her. “I wanted to be helpful while I’m here.”
“Well, we’d better stop standing around and get the barn cleaned,” she said.
With the three of us working together, we mucked out the stalls in record time, then headed up to the house for breakfast. The horses always came first.
Mrs. Jackson, as usual, had outdone herself. We filled our plates with eggs, bacon, hash browns, toast, and fresh fruit. I could get used to eating like this every day.
“I want to move the cattle to another pasture today,” Kinsley’s dad, Cal, said between mouthfuls. He turned to me. “You up for it?”
“You bet.” I swallowed my last bite of toast.
